Strange New Social Media Trend: Licking Nintendo Switch Cartridges (macon.com) 117
Now that the Nintendo Switch has launched, "lots of people are just licking their video games," reports McClatchy.
According to IGN, the tech company coated the cartridges, which are roughly the size of a SIM card, in a bittering agent called denatonium benzoate, which is also used in rat poison and antifreeze to deter human consumption. The chemical is also used to deter nail-biting, per the Telegraph. Nintendo used the chemical as a safety measure to stop small children and pets from eating the cartridges. While there is no adverse health effects from consuming denatonium benzoate, it does leave a sour, bitter taste that lasts for hours, according to taste testers from BBC News, Quartz and IGN. But even as more and more people take to social media to let others know how bad the cartridges taste, more and more people seem determined to try it in what some are calling the Nintendo cartridge challenge...
"Humanity deserves no faith," opines Slashdot reader RavenLrD20k. But meanwhile on Twitter, one gamer was already complaining that their morning coffee tasted like a Nintendo Switch cartridge.
"Humanity deserves no faith," opines Slashdot reader RavenLrD20k. But meanwhile on Twitter, one gamer was already complaining that their morning coffee tasted like a Nintendo Switch cartridge.
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...to prevent kids from choking...
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Kids will put stuff in their mouths anyhow. If it isn't a cartridge, it's something else and more dangerous. It's not like there's a dearth of items that can be inserted in the head. And a bitter taste? Just find another orifice, then!
Consider it an evolutionary opportunity. Those who choke and die won't be in the gene pool.
This nanny culture isn't helpful. Kids don't get knives anymore, so they never learn how to use it, and when getting one, they have the experience of a hundred cuts to know how to
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Agreed, we really do need to thin the herd more. All this protection has lowered the average IQ and we are spiraling into a "Idiocracy" reality.
Re:Intentionally poisioning their product (Score:4, Insightful)
I used to think that, and hell, maybe it's true and I was more right then. But now I just think we need to educate people more at all ages. Just force more information about everything into them until they a) get used to the idea of learning new things again and b) start to make connections with the information. I think a lot of these people are smarter than they'll ever know, because they've never learned to enjoy thinking.
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I like what you say, but what do we do with the people that think that "big shots alla time makin' us lern stuff, like they was better than us or somethin" is a governmental/cultural/sociological/aristicracal/illuminatical conspiracy?
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Agreed, we really do need to thin the herd more. All this protection has lowered the average IQ and we are spiraling into a "Idiocracy" reality.
That's it!
Coming this summer:
Lord of the Flies Camp!!!
Do your little tykes have what it takes figure out the basics of survival and to comprehend the stupidity and evil lurking in there peers? Be the first to test your progeny for suitable survivor instincts and cunning. ACT NOW*, while you still have time to breed replacements...
We must have your deposit in time to ship you the 400 page waiver form for each child.
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This nanny culture isn't helpful. Kids don't get knives anymore, so they never learn how to use it, and when getting one, they have the experience of a hundred cuts to know how to use it safely, but are strong enough to hurt themselves far more. Playgrounds don't have climbable trees. So they don't develop skills while still soft-boned and light enough to survive falls. They can't swim under water, because flotation devices prevent them from learning. They've never flown a kite, nor shot a arrow from a bow. They're not allowed wooden pencils. They have to wear safety glasses when playing conkers.
Maybe where you live. Not here.
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At first, I was "no wooden pencils, wtf?" But I remembered I knew two kids growing up with a few millimeters of graphite embedded in the skin from being stabbed by other kids at like kindergarten age.
If I remember correctly, a few years ago, a little snowflake got a splinter from a wood pencil in her finger. The parents took her to an emergency room, and then sued the school. The result was no more wooden pencils in that district.
The conkers safety glasses, on the other hand, was a teacher who took it upon herself to implement extra safety rules.
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Water is used in nuclear power plants, therefore your morning coffee is radioactive. Same logic.
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At least read the summary before you comment. There are no adverse health effects from consuming denatonium benzoate. It is not poison.
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unethical company
Ironic since Denatonium Benzoate (the component that makes it taste so nasty) is used in countless products (methanol, rat poison etc) exactly to *prevent* people from getting poisoned. Also, it's used on nails to prevent nail biting: It's safe, tastes unbearably nasty, and much better than the alternative of a kid choking to death.
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There are taste buds in vaginas and rectums?
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Not in the vagina, but there are taste buds in your colon [nature.com] ... and in your stomach... and pancreas ... and lungs ... and on sperm. You don't perceive taste from them, fortunately, but they do trigger other responses in your body.
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they do this to screwdriver handles too so ppl don't use it has a dildo
Is this is true then Orange Is the New Black loses a significant plot point.
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There wasn't any the last time I used one as a dildo. Sharp remains from the molding process are a much better deterrent anyway. Who wants to bleed tonight?
Another good reason to buy quality tools with wooden handles.
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Which is why the question to be asked when visiting a hardware store to purchase new equipment for the do-it-yourself jobs is "Got Wood?"
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Anyone over the age of 12 still playing Nintendo games should be ashamed of themselves.
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Since when is 13 equal to 3?
Last I checked, choking hazard age limits were automatic age3 rating.
American children haven't fully left the oral stage by 13. Remember the Buckyball recall? The ones who had swallowed them were all above the age you'd think kids wouldn't swallow things not meant for swallowing.
It's the country where they think "parental guidance" doesn't imply actual guidance.
The next generation of games consoles will likely have big, rounded and neoprene coated cartridges to protect American 14 year olds from themselves.
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Teenagers swallowing magnets happened because they were using them as fake piercings, not because they were sticking magnets in their mouths for the taste.
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Fake piercings? You mean, one buckyball on either side of the tongue and they pinch the tongue between them?
Hmmm, that's actually kinda clever. Except for the accidental swallowing bit.
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Anyone over the age of 12 still playing Nintendo games should be ashamed of themselves.
I watch Sailor Moon, and I'm 57.
I'm ashamed for the human race that you exist.
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So at 57 you're watching a show about pre-teen schoolgirls prancing around in sexy outfits, and you're the one ashamed of humanity?
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Pædophile spotted.
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That's the problem with these newfangled computer video games . . . kids don't go outside and play any more.
If they went outside to play in the fresh air, they could catch some hallucinogenic toads to lick instead.
Whatever floats their boat... (Score:5, Funny)
Re: Whatever floats their boat... (Score:1)
"expresso cappachino"
A fucking what? They probably gave you shit-liquid just for saying that.
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It's common misspelling that you would have to be borderline retarded to not be able to work out yourself.
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No, "expresso" is a trigger for cunts.
Re: Whatever floats their boat... (Score:1)
It's a riddle where you must find the letter that 'x' stands for. Expresso, ex cetera, ... etc. Oh noes, I gave the second away.
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parent said, "If I want to taste something really bad, I just start cooking."
LOL. I miss read it as " I just start cocksucking. "
My bad!
waste of money (Score:5, Funny)
Paid over $300 for this new console, and all it's done is leave me with a bitter taste in my mouth.
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Meh, it's a bit of a mixed bag. I've found a few things to like about it; the screen is good quality (first time for that on a Nintendo handheld device). The UI is pleasant and functional (compare and contrast with the XB1's). Plus, Nintendo finally step into the 21st century by abandoning region locks and the whole "multi region account switching" thing is pretty easy, which is nice.
But there is also a lot wrong with it, and I'd be lying if I said I don't have a bit of buyer's remorse. The ergonomics are b
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In the long term, this thing is an express ticket to RSI-town. Nintendo have forgotten or ignored some basic design and ergonomic principles that everybody else has known about for years.
Nintendo has never had ergonomically good controllers, unless you count the NES Advantage (which had lousy buttons, so you probably shouldn't. I wonder if you can hack full size arcade buttons into there.) Every single controller they've ever made has had awful ergo. The original NES controller really stands out as RSI-inducing, the SNES controller wasn't much better especially as it was a slippery little sucker, the N64 controller was a fucking train wreck (shifting your hand position in the middle of a ga
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You haven't named the Gamecube controller, which to me was a wonderful design that I still use to play emulators on my PC (using an adapter, of course).
You must have small hands. Mine are huge and it makes me cry. And since they're Nintendo and it's their way or the highway they only ever make controllers sized for Japanese.
I will add that every single nintendo handheld ever has had awful ergo. I have all the old ones (my newest one is a DS) and they are all bad. And so was the virtual boy, which incidentally has the controller most similar to the gamecube, at least in shape.
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It would make me cry to have huge hands, too. Nobody but the really stretched out hags would want me to fist them.
Yes, I *have* had my small hands complimented for that.
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The Gamecube controller was absolutely awful. The right analogue stick was an abortion... a hideous shrivelled nipple which was of no use whatsoever in-game.
I kinda get what they were going for, with the face buttons. Until the PS2/Gamecube/Xbox generation, there tended to be one controller button that was used more than the others, so why not make it bigger. Unfortunately, they did that just as console games were getting more sophisticated and button usage was getting more evenly spread. So they ended up w
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I guess you're too young to ever had played with an Intellivision controller. Your list would be quite different.
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I guess you're too young to ever had played with an Intellivision controller. Your list would be quite different.
While that may or may not be true for the parent poster, the Intellivision was my first game console, and despite the fact its controller was likely the worst designed ever, that still doesn't change the fact nearly every other Nintendo designed controller is also very bad.
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I did like that right analogue stick. I also liked the consoles with only one analogue stick - those are the N64 and Dreamcast. These forced games to use only one stick.
The N64 game pad would have been good if they had fixed that silly problem with the stick eroding.
The Game Cube controller also had that clicking on the analog triggers, that was innovative.
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The GameBoy advance micro had an excellent display, too.
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WiiU + Switch owner here. The Switch (with joycons) is smaller than the WiiU gamepad in every dimension, and is noticeably lighter. The joycon buttons are smaller and more tightly grouped. The analogue sticks are smaller and stiffer, their ridges have notches in the cardinal directions to help you tell what part of the stick you're touching. I often accidentally click in the left stick when moving it around quickly, whereas I don't recall that happening on the WiiU gamepad. The center of balance of the Swit
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You're licking it wrong.
Monkey see, monkey do (Score:2)
"You know, I never thought of that before. Maybe you got something there. Let a few people go out with a smile, satisfaction guaranteed. Christ, Will, we could tell them exactly what it was and still sell some
Blow and Lick (Score:1)
I do love to blow and lick.
My cartridges.
I blame this on idiocracy (Score:1)
i.e. the constant trend of increased number of people with lower intelligence, due to successful procreation in spite of cognitive inadequacies.
Proof for human idiocy (Score:1)
And it tastes awful!
Caution wet paint (Score:2)
As if you wouldn't touch it.
Personally I now have this urge to find out what a switch cartridge tastes like.
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Actually my comment was more in relation to all the posters here who said everyone is an idiot for doing this. Humans are inquisitive and generally non-trusting.
I heard the cartridge tastes bitter if you lick it. I now have a desire to check that too, just like I have a desire to check if paint is still wet when the sign says wet paint.
To Be Fair, Licking Consoles Isn't New (Score:5, Informative)
In all fairness to the, uh, interesting people doing this, they're not completely off their rockers. Licking consoles was a thing before social media even existed.
A then-unknown Jessica Chobot (who these days hosts shows for Nerdist) basically started the whole thing by licking a PSP [encyclopediadramatica.se] as a gag photo in 2005. Since then, someone, somewhere (usually Chobot, it feels like) licks a launch console.
The only novel change here is people licking the cartridge instead of the console, and that's due to the aforementioned use of a bittering agent. Maybe Nintendo got it wrong here and needs to go into licking controls instead of motion controls...
Odd thing is, I didn't bite my nails anyway (Score:2)
When I was a kid my parents tried that anti nail-biting paint. I used to lick it off and ask for some more.
Obligatory (Score:5, Funny)
Immunity (Score:1)
UK NHS:
We use denatonium benzoate at work to test the fit of masks designed to prevent the inhalation of biological agents. We have to don our PPE(mask) of choice and then a large hood. An examiner sprays an aerosol of denatonium benzoate into the hood to see whether the PPE fits.
I can personally claim to be immune/insensitive to the effects/taste of denatonium benzoate. Testers have sprayed the agent directly onto my tongue and eyeballs and I have not been able to tell. Apparently it's a genetic thing/bug
Half the population has an IQ under 100 (Score:2, Informative)
People are so stupid, I have no faith in humanity anymore.
Too much news (Score:4, Insightful)
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Now it's an issue for no real reason.
Actually I think this is more what happens when people without a clue who don't read up on things have an opinion. In this case the only reference at all I have found to this being an issue is you claiming it is. Every other article simply points out the trend.
I'm not against reporting whatever you want, just noting how pathetic society is in its need to consume 'news' that really isn't.
The news has always reported on trends in their back pages. Even dead tree papers had columns dedicated to stupid things people do. The difference is that now it's all online you seem to seek out this stuff and then through confirmation bias declare t
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Wait... are you talking about people licking carts or buying a Switch?
My cats wouldn't (Score:2)
Blame "King Of The Hill" (Score:1)
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